Alice “Pat” Browne died on December 27, 2013, at the age of 81. Pat is probably best known as the person who ran the conferences of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association for about 40 years. She also presided over the Bowling Green State University Popular Press, which, among its many other activities, published Popular Music and Society for about 30 years.
Throughout that time Pat was Managing Editor of the journal, but her contribution was more important than the title implies. Pat saved the journal from probable extinction on at least two occasions. Popular Music and Society was founded by sociologist R. Serge Denisoff in 1971. Originally Denisoff published the journal himself, under the auspices of the Sociology Department at Bowling Green. During its early days the journal appeared on an erratic schedule, and transfer of publishing duties to Pat Browne and the Popular Press shortly after the journal began provided much-needed stability. Later, during Ron Denisoff's final illness, Pat did most of the journal's editorial work herself, thereby enabling the journal to keep going at a fairly regular pace. This was one of many things Pat did in her “spare time” and without formal acknowledgment.
Two of Pat's other contributions have not been sufficiently noted. Her biannual international popular culture conferences, which she initiated and supervised for about 20 years, provided hundreds of people with the opportunity for international travel and scholarly exchange. These conferences have continued under the direction of other organizers, currently Professor Douglas Noverr.
And Pat was enormously helpful to the regional popular culture organizations in the United States. As Executive Secretary of the Midwest Popular Culture Association for eight years, I benefited many times from Pat's expertise, kindness, and generosity.
Pat did the work and established the structures that allowed thousands of people, myself included, to find happiness and fulfillment in their careers and academic endeavors. Pat was a delightful person, a true friend, and an irreplaceable treasure in the field of popular culture studies. An obituary of Pat Browne was published in the Toledo (Ohio) Blade and is available here: < http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n = alice-maxine-browne-pat&pid = 168859578>.